Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

Key Points

• UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 22.8% during the first quarter, holding 25,726 shares valued at approximately $4,019,000.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.31, surpassing analyst expectations, with a revenue of $96.43 billion, a 13.8% increase from the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%.

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 22.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,726 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,784 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, jvl associates llc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $189.95. The company had a trading volume of 21,211,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,077,368. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $179.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.